When I Think of You

The past month has been a whirlwind in the truest sense of the word.  My life was blown apart a bit, and now slowly it is beginning to come back together.
We celebrated Will's 6th birthday back in Sept.  And while I say this every single birthday, for every single child, I simply cannot believe that he is now 6.  There are so many things tied to him, from his rough beginnings (failure to thrive!) and his presence in the room when my mom finally breathed her last breath, to the crazy boy he has become, so scrappy and strong and smart!  It is, most days, a joy to teach him.  He grasps most numbers/math with ease, and is becoming a proficient reader.  He sees and thinks outside the box, which challenges and rewards me.
A couple of pics from his bday party:

Just prior to his birthday we had to say goodbye to our sweet Hap.  Hap had been with us since the summer we married; through 4 babes, moves, life.  

We all got to say goodbye, here at home and then again at the vets office.  Jeff met us there to be with the kids, while I stayed in with Hap.  Ryan kept asking Jeff why he was crying, adding, "Policemen don't cry."  It was the first time Ryan had ever seen his daddy cry - he wasn't born when mom passed away, and he has no memory of all the tears we shed over him in the NICU.  

Life continued on, and then in late Sept, my friend Mel's mom came up for a visit, ended up contracting CDiff, a lethal bacterial infection, and was hospitalized for 3 weeks.  She only this past weekend returned home to TX.  

Two weeks ago, my other dear friend Kimberly, lost her mom.  Suddenly, she was gone.  Her service was last Thursday and Kimberly did what I wish I could have done at my mom's service; she gave a loving, thoughtful tribute to her mom.  She was so brave and amazing!  

Ryan came down with an ear infection the Monday before the funeral, and then this past weekend I succumbed as well:(  I sound rather manly, and feel rather shoddy.  The Zyrtec-D prescribed to me yesterday kept me up all night.  I will not be taking that tonight:)

We did squeeze in a camping trip somewhere in late Sept - can't even recall the exact day now.

 Love this one- the 2 littles wanted to go swimming like the bigs were doing, but I had already run back to the campsite once, so I told them to swim in their skivvies.  They thought it was a hoot, but that water was chilly!

What happens when you try to take a selfie of a family of 6?  This many outtakes:

Whoops, no Jeff or Will...

 Ok, no Jack, or Will and half of me and Jeff

 Yay, everyone's in the shot, but EK, you're not looking!!!

 Oh well, maybe we should just give up...

 Almost...Ek, we need your eyes...

Hooray!  Blurry, but all in!

And that is how it's done!  

So, now Oct is here and we are trying to stay on top of school (we missed many days while helping our friends as they walked through their troubles.)   Dad and Theresa come this weekend and we are all so excited to see them!

I'll leave you with this handsome face - finally got a haircut and looks so stinkin' cute!

Happy 9th Birthday Ella-Kathryn!

 Our sweet girl, born in the wee hours of the morning.  Your heart condition that was diagnosed in utero, disappeared after you were born, and while you had taken in some yucky stuff during the birth, you perked up quickly.  Jack was so excited to meet you:)

 Your first birthday - we had a party in FL even though we had moved back to AR, and you REALLY liked the frosting on your cupcakes!

 Second birthday, at Grandma and PaPa Simpson's house, since we were still in the little blue house, almost ready to move into our new house on Hanover.

 Your first birthday celebrated at our home on Hanover - you turned 3 and GG, Gran, LaLa and Aunt KK, came with Emily and Case.

 4th Birthday - your hair was finally really growing long:)

Your 5th birthday - you were so sweet and understanding as Mommy and Daddy tried to juggle your baby brother Ryan's arrival and hospitalization with some kind of normal life at home.  We did manage to have a birthday party for you, and I think you felt good about it all, but man was it hard to be fully present here with you, knowing your brother was in the NICU alone.  You quickly became my biggest helper once he came home - always eager to help feed him, or change his diaper.  You started kindergarten that month too!

Birthday #6 - you had a Hannah Montana party:)

7 - you had a Rock Band party with your sweet friends.

Last year you headed to the pool with your friends - so fun!

This year you will go skating on Sat with 2 close friends.  We had the family party on Sun to celebrate all of the Aug birthdays.
Ella-Kathryn, I cannot believe you are 9!  You are becoming such a lovely young lady.  You continue to be the encourager in our family - always cheering everyone else on!  You are usually of great help to me, and do very well with your studies.  You love to read, and still enjoy playing with your dolls.  But you also love music and movies, and of course your friends.
Happy birthday sweet girl!

The Wedding

Top: First dance for Dad and Theresa.
Middle: Ryan and Mary Kate
Bottom: Harry and Evan dancing with the little cousins - Will, Emily, Case, and EK.

I didn't want to forget to detail Dad and Theresa's wedding.   The ceremony was at 7:30 AM on the beach - at Peter's Point.  It was overcast, but that helped keep the temps down, so I don't think anyone complained:) Dad and Theresa's families all gathered on the beach, and then Theresa made her way down the boardwalk to Dad.  It was a very sweet ceremony.  Theresa's niece and nephews read scripture selections that Dad and Theresa chose for the day.  

We headed back to the house for a catered breakfast - delish and a fun time to meet the new family:)  We got to hang out at the house with them until the afternoon reception, which was held downtown Fernandina in a swanky bar.  There was dancing and more yummy food, and dancing, and dancing!  I had to sit out because of my broken toe:(  But, the kids has a BLAST!  They boogied for most of the 3 hour reception!  And sweet Ryan had his first dance with a girl other than his momma.  Theresa's precious niece Mary Kate was kind enough  to dance with this little boy who had developed a HUGE crush on her that day.  She heads off to college this fall with a 4 year old's heart in her hands:)

We ended the night back at the house, Karen and family, our family, and the Caulers.  While the whole day was rather surreal in so many ways, it was a joy to get to be a part of such a special day for my Dad and Theresa.  They are making changes to the house, and I know that it will look significantly different when we return next, but that too is good for me.  A new life deserves some fresh pages, and I'm excited for Dad and T and their future together!

2013-2014 Curriculum

After last years disappointment with Learning Adventures, we returned to our Classical roots.  I have to say that LA was really a great program - it's all inclusive, except for math, and would have worked wonderfully if not for one of our students.  This students is a predominantly auditory learner who does not enjoy reading at all:(  This curriculum relies on the teacher reading the "core" and then the students must do further reading in each subject from a selection of books chosen from the library on those set topics.  Again, fine for those who can handle the independent reading, but it became overwhelming for me - I was reading from each subject out of the "text" provided by LA and then having to prod the slacking reader or do more read aloud time to feel like we were on top of the scheduled topics.  I loved the flow of the curricula and it truly is well done - thorough and well planned.  It was so sad to abandon it!  However, this is one of the important lessons I'm learning in this homeschool journey.  You must know your students and know when to cut your losses and move on.  

So about mid fall I realized we need to make a change, and I again felt drawn to the Classical model.  And really we are eclectic homeschoolers - pulling from Classical mainly and throwing in a dash of Charlotte Mason.  I think the main appeal of Classical education, is the structure.  I need the accountability of a series of subjects to pursue and check off.  So, without further ado, our curricula for this school year:

Jack - Grade 6

Bible - family reading time, followed by independent bible study time

Math - Teaching Textbooks 6.  This is our first year using TT.  We have tried MCP, Saxon, and MathUSee, all with little success.  Jack is finally caught up grade-level wise, so I'm glad we did what we did, but he's really enjoying TT and I'm hopeful it will give him more independence in math this year.

Spelling - Building Spelling Skills book 6 - used last year to mixed reviews from the kids, but it's thorough and at Jack's level introduces so many different words it's been fun to learn along with him navigation terms, world capitals, and tree names.

Grammar - Rod and Staff.  Tried and true, the one curriculum we have never veered away from.

Writing - Writing Strands.  Jack loathes writing, so we started this program last year.  Still hates writing but the books are clearly written for him to follow along with little intervention on my part.  EK also uses this.

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting - more cursive practice, using scripture as copywork, so I stuck with this for this year.  

History - finishing up Story of the World Vol. 3 (Early Modern) then moving on to Vol. 4 the Modern Age.  Looking forward to finally getting into the major wars that I know will intrigue and capture Jack's attention.  He will continue to outline from these and the history encyclopedia, as well as do more independent writing based on the books he's checked out on specific topics.

Science - Christian Kids Explore Physics.  We started this late spring and so far it's been easy to use and the kids seem to enjoy it.  There are some fun projects/experiments which keep them engaged and they are not too complex or expensive which I appreciate.

Latin- Latin Christina.  We did Prima Latina over 2 years, but I intend to complete this one in one.  We will get into declensions and I admit I'm a tad nervous!

Logic - Critical Thinking, books 1 & 2; more teacher intensive this year, but I did see improvement in this are of Jack's test scores and I do think it's beneficial to his over all academic performance.

Art - weekly art study of some kind

Music - piano lessons, taught by yours truly.

EK

bible - same as above

Math - Saxon 5/4 (what Jack did last year as remediation, but it's target for her)

Grammar - R&S4

Handwriting - ARFH

History - same as above with less writing and no outlining

Science - same

Latin- same

Art/Music - same

I am hoping to get her interested in the kids book club at the library and we will continue to learn knitting and sewing together.

Both big kids will continue memory work on the following:

Beginning of the Declaration of Independence

US presidents 

Major wars 1600-present

Preamble to Constitution

The Gettysburg Address

Amendments to Constitution

US states/capitals

Will

All same as above unless listed below

Math Saxon 1 (he probably should be in 2, but I goofed, so we'll see how quickly he finishes the first grade stuff)

Language Arts - Primary Language lessons 1 - loved this for EK, and it's so homeschool friendly.  So far, so good.

He will sit in on history with us, but will only narrate to me and I'll write down what he remembers.

Science - we will study animals together.  Physics is too much for him:)

Ryan

Continue pre-k activities but mainly just reading to him and having him participate in Family Math when we do that once a week.

Ok, I'm exhausted!  It seems like a lot and it is, but if we don't have set goals and schedules we wander.  I hope to let each big kid pick a small scale unit study for some of the weeks we have off from our regular school time - something that interests them but we don't have time to study fully yet.  

Back to School

It seems I've got some updating to do around here!  

June brought some sad news - my Gran passed away in NJ and so we all headed up north to spend time with the family there.  We were able to remember her, share stories, laugh, and just be together.  We were also able to get out and about a bit - took the kids to the park my sister and I went to as kids.

Spending time with cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts/uncles, and poppy made for a fun trip, amid the sadness of losing Gran. 

On the way home we made a quick stop at the American Motorcycle Museum.  A fun place to see the history of motorcycles - riders, bikes, and the progression of the sport.  

 

We tried to get back into the swing of things upon our return, but just couldn't seem to find a way to complete a few school subjects.  The pool and friends got most of our attention!  We celebrated Father's day with a special meal for Jeff.

And then hit up BV's annual 4th of July parade.  

And of course had some firework fun of our own!

Ella-Kathryn entered and WON her first motocross race!  Very proud of her!

Then we headed out to FL, making a couple of stops along the way to visit with friends.  First, we go to hang out with my sister's sil and her sweet kids!   Here's EK with Olivia and Naomi - such dear girls.  

The we crashed with my friend from school and got to play with her super sweet boys, J and A.  I feel confident posting this pic since her son is incognito:)

Jack in disguise first...

 then A got in on the action!

When we got to FL we spent time with the cousins again, got to have special dates with Aunt LaLa, celebrated Poppy and Theresa's wedding, and even squeezed in a fishing trip with Poppy and jet skiing with daddy!

Will practicing his floating in the deep end.

 Beach time with Poppy!

 Boogie Boarding fun!

 Ry's crazy beach hair:)

 Will's catch of the day all fried up for lunch.

On our way home from FL we stopped again at Karen's and were able to join in with Emily's bday party.  She got to take her friends to Skyzone and they all had a great time.  Sorry for the blurry pic:(

Then we finally made it home and we began our light homeschool schedule - math, spelling, reading and that's about it.  In the midst of that, Jack was able to buy his first dirtbike - he's worked so hard all summer mowing yards and it finally paid off!

As we wrapped up our first week back to school, I had to snap this pic.  It's Will and his very first official spelling test!  He did great on it too!

So, I will post our curriculum for this school year another time, but suffice it to say, it's been hard putting our nosed back to the grindstone.